Eurobites: Virgin Media Gets Picky, Loses 53,000 RGUs in Q3Eurobites: Virgin Media Gets Picky, Loses 53,000 RGUs in Q3

BritBox, the attempt by UK free-to-air broadcasters to grab a slice of the OTT video streaming action, has launched in the UK. The service, which features archived "boxed sets" of established hits such as Downton Abbey alongside new shows, will cost £5.99 ($7.70) a month. A version of BritBox with a different catalogue has been running in the US for a couple of years, attracting 650,000 subscribers. Can this UK incarnation compete with established players like Netflix and Amazon Prime? Will the lure of ancient episodes of Doctor Who prove impossible to resist? Some UK telly-gogglers have already expressed their outrage on Twitter that they are being expected to pay to watch programs that they have, as they see it, already paid for via their BBC license fees…

Greek systems vendor Intracom Telecom is to supply its WiBAS Point-to-MultiPoint (PtMP) technology to Dark Fibre Africa (DFA), a South African provider of open access infrastructure. DFA hopes the deal will allow it to offer high-quality microwave-based last-mile access connectivity to wholesale customers, serving those end users wanting immediate access while waiting for a fiber service to be installed or, in appropriate cases, as a permanent solution.

UK chip designer ARM is sticking to its plan to double staff numbers in the UK despite recording a loss in its most recent quarterly results. As the Daily Telegraph reports (paywall applies), ARM recorded an $11 million operating loss in the third quarter of the year, as revenues declined, but CEO Simon Segars maintained the headcount expansion plan will go ahead.

Finnish airline Finnair has sacked an unspecified number of employees who had been found using passengers' WiFi log-in credentials to access the Internet during flights, resulting in those passengers being unable to get online themselves. As YLE reports, Finnair suspects that up to 100 employees have been caught red-handed.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading